Freshwater is a quiet established residential suburb nestled below the rainforest hillsides of the Mt Whitfield Conservation Park. It has a number of small local parks with children's playgrounds, tennis courts and small shopping centre with convenience store, French bakery, butcher, post office and Thai takeaway restaurant. Its special quality is its location, with easy 15mins access to the Cairns CBD, the beach communities north of Cairns, and rainforest with beautiful creeks for swimming. Freshwater also has a station where most tourists catch the he heritage train to Kuranda on the Atherton Tablelands. Cairns itself is known internationally for its easy access to the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef and Wet Tropics Rainforest.